Reviews

Command & Conquer Generals: Zero Hour

Zero Hour comes with new five-mission campaigns for each army and a horde of new maps for skirmish and online modes. If you want a real challenge, there's a new solo mode called "General's Challenge." You'll choose which general you want to play as and face a series of the other generals. It's not easy. Your opponent starts with a fully developed base, and will waste no time spreading chaos through your ranks. I had to restart the challenge a few times when the air superiority general spread a bit too much shock and awe through my base! In a good bit of voice acting, each enemy general will have a lot to say during the challenge. They'll taunt you again and again, sometimes indicating what kind of tactics they intend to use. They'll also promise swift retribution when you start counterattacking. You'll hear some repeats in the longer battles, but all in all it's great stuff.

The online community is just as rabid as it has always been. Getting hooked up for online play is still very easy. Players can customize what kind of games they're looking for (1 vs. 1 up to 4 vs. 4), press "Quickmatch," and be playing against their opponent usually within 30 seconds. Further customization and chat rooms are available through the "Custom Match," which features your usual GameSpy player matching setup. Game balance, of course, is just as contentious a matter with the community as always. Someone's always crying foul over something, be it the vicious strength of the Toxin General's tunnel networks or the might of the Infantry General. Despite that, however, the win percentages for all generals and the regular armies are within mere points of each other.

On the technical side of things, Zero Hour is still the resource hog its predecessor was. Expect some stuttering and slowing on lower-end machines. If you tweak the settings a bit, you should be able to get it to run smoothly. Saying Zero Hour didn't receive a graphical upgrade with the expansion seems cheap considering Generals was already a treat for the eye, especially at high-detail settings. The audio remains excellent, with the same stellar soundtrack styled according to each army and voiceovers for the new units and generals. The basic control remains the same, though there are new mouse options for those who like selecting with one button and attacking with another. New hotkeys enable you to quickly select all your ground and/or air units on the screen or the entire map.

Launch airstrikes from offshore aircraft carriers.

EA could have just released new missions, units, structures, and powers for Generals, and had a sure-fire winner on its hands. The addition of the specialized generals, however, pushes this expansion set over the top. If you've already got Generals, you cannot go wrong with getting Zero Hour. It will spark new life into your game and add a lot of variation to your online play, and there's not much more you can ask from an expansion.

(One last note: If you don't have Generals yet, you might want to wait until early November for C&C: Generals Deluxe Edition, which has both the original C&C Generals and Zero Hour.)